Womens' Health

I am away from home for the weekend. I am taking a three day course that centers on Womens' Health. There is a incredible need in this area of practice in physical therapy that is shunned and ignored by many. It is a hard area of practice because of the subject matter. Most people grow up not talking about personal bodily things and are embarrassed when they have problems in these areas. A lot of women think certain pain or problems that come from pregnancy, birth, and even with just being a women are normal and live with it. I find it a horrible that the statistics found that 50% of women who have a problem, don't seek out help. Many don't know that much can be done through simple conservative means. It is one of the many reasons that motivates me to take this particular class. I will have to take level II and III in the next 3 years, but at least I'll have the basics to start.

I really don't know of a single male PT who wants to or practices in this area. This morning I was surprised that there was a male on the class roster. He walked into the class and you could feel the resentment and the panic sweep through the room. After all he was an outsider and could never experience post-partum and other female issues. How was he going to do labs with us? Then the instructor informed us that the clinic he worked at was going to start a male health class. His particular area was not in this course, but he needed basic background from this level I course. He wanted the instructor to explain that his sweet little wife had volunteered to be his lab partner. You could almost hear the sigh of relief.

(If anyone has questions or fun random stories that are appropriate for the blog world, feel free to e-mail me after the class. Your probably not alone...especially if you've given birth.)